An eyewitness has described the moment leading barrister and law professor Diarmuid Phelan "got a pistol from his pocket" and shot twice in the air before discharging a third shot "towards" an unarmed trespasser on his farmland.
Under cross-examination, farmhand Pierre Godreu told defence counsel Michael Bowman SC that Mr Phelan looked "really pissed off" when he was walking away from a wooded area on his lands, followed by two angry men who were arguing with him. He agreed that the shots were fired in very quick succession and the deceased man had been "advancing" at the time.
Asked by the defence counsel whether he accepted what had taken place on the Tallaght farm was a frightening experience for everyone, Mr Godreu said it had "really darkened my experience living in Ireland".
Mr Phelan (56), with an address at Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, Dublin 24, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Keith Conlon (36) at Hazelgrove Farm, Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, on February 24th, 2022.
Mr Conlon, from Kiltalown Park in Tallaght, was seriously injured in the shooting incident on February 22nd and died at Tallaght University Hospital two days later.
Opening the prosecution’s case on Wednesday, Roisin Lacey SC, prosecuting, said the jury will hear evidence that on the day in question three men including Mr Conlon had trespassed on Mr Phelan's land while hunting foxes or badgers.
Ms Lacey said that Mr Phelan told gardaí he became concerned about a dog running loose on his land towards his sheep. When he got a view of the dog, he shot it with his Winchester rifle, whereupon, he said, three men immediately "exploded" from the wooded area and began threatening him.
The barrister said Mr Phelan and one of his farmworkers retreated back up a ravine to the green area, where there were another three workers.
The 12 jurors were also told by the State yesterday that Mr Phelan said he was shaking with fear and "scrambled" up a bank to get away but when the deceased man, Keith Conlon, and a second man kept coming he believed they were "coming to fulfil the threats they had made".
As they got closer, Mr Phelan said he reached for his Smith & Wesson revolver in his pocket and fired in the air over their heads but was "stunned when one man went down", the court has heard.
Giving evidence today via a videolink from Brussels, French national and farmhand Pierre Godreu (26) told John Byrne SC, prosecuting, that he came to work on Mr Phelan's farm in January 2022.
The witness said another foreign national called Julian Roudaut was working there when he arrived. He said a girl called Alexandra Fernandes and a German female were working on the farm by February 22nd, 2022.
Mr Godreu said he had spent February 22nd feeding the animals and cutting the long grass with a strimmer. He said he was wearing earmuffs and protective glasses at the time.
The witness said the two girls who worked on the farm had come to his attention at one stage as they looked concerned. "I took off my headphones. I heard two people fighting, that was how I understood they were concerned," he said.
He said Mr Phelan and Mr Roudaut were in the forest at the time, and he had seen them coming back from the woodland together. He said the accused had a rifle on him at the time. "I think he was protecting himself with the rifle against animals," he added. He said the accused had placed the rifle in a car.
He said two other men, who were in their thirties and wearing hunting clothes, were also coming back from the woodland. He said he had never seen these men before.
Mr Godreu said "the two strangers" were fighting "orally" with the accused beside the field where he [the witness] was cutting the grass.
Asked what he recalled Mr Phelan telling the two strangers, the witness replied: "He told them to go. He said 'Go, Go, Get out, Get out'." Mr Godreu said the two strangers didn't leave.
Mr Byrne asked Mr Godreu what had he recalled of the accused's actions. The witness said Mr Phelan had "got a pistol from his pocket and shot in the air two times."
Asked whether there was a "further shot", Mr Godreu replied: "Yes, towards one of the strangers". He said the man had fallen on the ground and the second trespasser had run away. The witness said the three shots were "done pretty quickly".
Mr Godreu said he and his co-workers were all shocked and didn't move. He said Mr Phelan went back to the house to get something to help the injured man and asked them to call an ambulance. The witness said the injured man was bleeding from his head.
The witness said the accused had tried to assist "the stranger who fell on the ground" and was trying to help him. He said he and his co-workers went to get shelter somewhere else.
Under cross-examination by Michael Bowman SC, defending, Mr Godreu agreed that lambs were being born on the farm at this time of year and every morning they would check as to whether new lambs had been born overnight. He also agreed that Mr Phelan had informed him that there was "a worry" that foxes or dogs might have taken the baby lambs on the farm.
Mr Godreu said he remembered his co-worker Ms Fernandes collecting beer bottles, cans and rubbish off the farm in the mornings, but he had never seen them. He also remembered being told to work in pairs on the farm and to take walkie talkies with them because if there was any trouble or intruders present, then they could use them to communicate with the accused.
The witness said he had been using a petrol strimmer that day, which was quite loud, so he wore ear protectors. He agreed he had seen panic on his co-workers' faces and with a suggestion that "clearly something had happened that had caused them to be afraid".
Mr Godreu agreed with Mr Bowman that he could hear fighting after the accused and Mr Roudaut had come out of the woods. He said the two men were walking up the field away from the woods and not shouting at anyone. He said Mr Roudaut was panicking and that Mr Phelan looked "really pissed off" when he was leaving the woods.
He said two other men had come out of the woods and followed them. Asked were the two trespassers "gaining" on the accused and Mr Roudaut, the witness said they were as they were "really angry" too and still arguing with Mr Phelan. He said the accused was asking the trespassers to leave the farm.
He accepted the trespassers were angry and had followed Mr Phelan and Mr Roudaut up the bank where the farmhands were working.
Mr Bowman put it to the witness that his client was not telling the trespassers to get off the farm but to keep their distance. "He said 'Get out'," replied Mr Godreu.
Mr Bowman put it to the witness that "what is recorded on the 999 telephone call is Mr Phelan saying keep your distance, go back down please". The witness replied "maybe".
The barrister asked the witness: "You don't remember that, it's clear he wants them to stay away from him, he wants them to keep their distance but they keep coming, is that the case?". Mr Godreu said it was and that the intruders had followed the accused up the field.
"Only at this stage when they don't keep their distance and keep advancing and don't go back down, it's at this stage the accused takes out the revolver gun?" asks Mr Bowman. "Yes, he got his pistol as soon as the men kept coming," said the witness.
Mr Bowman replied "as soon as the men didn't keep their distance".
The witness told the defence counsel that the three shots were fired immediately after each other, and he thought the intruder had "mimicked" falling down. He said the accused had immediately gone over to the injured man to see whether he was hurt.
Asked by Mr Bowman if he had ever been the subject of a violent encounter with trespassers, Mr Godreu said he had never been confronted in such a way. Mr Bowman also put it to the witness that no one had ever threatened to kill him for giving evidence in court as was "Mr Phelan’s direct experience" to which the prosecution objected. The witness said he did not know that men with iron bars had previously come onto the farm and broken the CCTV.
Mr Godreu further agreed he had told gardai that he thought Mr Phelan was very protective of his farm and had put in CCTV and barbed wire. He also agreed that the accused had not wanted him talking about the farm to other people.
Asked whether he accepted what had taken place that day was a frightening experience for everyone, Mr Godreu said it had "really darkened my experience living in Ireland".
In summary, the witness agreed that the accused had fired three shots in very quick succession and the deceased man had been "advancing" at the time.
It was during the opening of the trial of Mr Phelan at the Central Criminal Court that the prosecuting barrister, Ms Lacey, said she expects the defence case to be that the accused was entitled to discharge the firearm in a legitimate act of self-defence. They will say that it was not done with the intention of causing the bullet to penetrate Mr Conlon's body and that the penetration was an accidental, unintended result, she stated.
The State's case, Ms Lacey highlighted, is that when the third shot was fired, the gun was pointed in the direction of the deceased who was shot in the back of the head when he had turned away to leave. "In those circumstances we say the accused intended to kill or cause serious injury," counsel said.
The trial continues tomorrow before Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford and a jury of nine men and three women.
